1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing system in which a group administration apparatus administers, in a unified manner, information of a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses such as semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses and, in particular, to a substrate processing system and a data retrieval method for efficiently retrieving data dealt by the group administration apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In the related art, in a group administration apparatus, data transmitted from each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is accumulated, on an each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus basis, in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus data accumulation area in the inside of the group administration apparatus. Then, in response to a data acquisition request for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of displaying target which is periodically generated and transmitted from each GUI (Graphical User Interface) terminal (i.e., each operation terminal), the group administration apparatus searches for data of the corresponding semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus data accumulation area, and then transmits the result to the corresponding GUI terminal. When a group administration apparatus having such a function is employed, for example, mismatching of a recipe and occurrence of a fault lot can be avoided in advance in substrate processing (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-73845).
FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing a flow of data in a common group administration apparatus (group administration system). That is, this diagram shows a data flow at the time of data retrieval performed in response to a display data acquisition request from a GUI terminal in a conventional group administration apparatus and, more specifically, shows a flow of acquisition of data of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is to be displayed on a GUI terminal. In FIG. 14, a solid line arrow indicates a flow of data of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1, while a dashed line indicates a flow of data of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 2, and while a dash-dotted line indicates a flow of data of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus n. Here, in the following description, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having an interface according to the specification of a common equipment model (CEM [Common Equipment Model]) defined in SEMI Standard E120 is simply referred to as an apparatus in some cases.
Nevertheless, as shown in the flow of data in the group administration apparatus of the FIG. 14, when data is exchanged between n apparatuses and n GUI terminals, a load concentrated state occurs in the group administration apparatus. That is, at the time of acquisition request for the apparatus data of displaying target from a GUI terminal, when the number of items of the apparatus data to be displayed on a GUI terminal increases or alternatively when the number of apparatuses to be displayed on GUI terminals and the number of GUI terminals increase, the data retrieval processing load increases inside the group administration apparatus so as to cause a delay in data retrieval. As a result, a long time is taken for displaying data on the GUI terminals. Alternatively, in some cases, an error of time-out or the like occurs so that, as a possibility, data cannot be displayed on the GUI terminal.